Wednesday, February 4, 2009

It never fails to amaze me, when public ways are intruded upon with a complete disregard for what the purpose or use of the public way was in first place. The following are examples of a strange predicament that has occurred during the installation of the Euclid Corridor project.

Placement of street furniture and bus stop accoutrement has made it impossible for the city to plow the copious amounts of snow from not only around the bus stop, but also the walkway past it. Here the plow operator just gave up after forming a nice little barricade directly in the pathway.Here the sidewalk plow was able to snake around some of the light posts, which are cleverly organized to randomly occur along the sidewalk path. It probably makes using a wheelchair more fun and challenging!The plow person probably took one look at this gauntlet and quit. The random sporadic orientation of the various posts may be some strange commentary on the correlation between the urban environment and the forest but I doubt it. I know I enjoyed twisting the hell out of my ankle though. I would have walked in the street but my mother taught me that people belong on the sidewalk, vehicles belong in the street. Those of us at SBS are very courteous and obedient.The public goes through the station instead of attempt to circumvent it. (there is hardly any walkway room to go around anyway). The benches (out in the elements) are fantastic low hurdles and the single solitary trash can creates a fantastic dialogue with the strange signage thing that blocks the view from inside the station (but not the wind!).I want someone to tell me why a bike rack is located here. Who the heck is going to park their bike at this location? This photo is taken from under a bridge, the rack is in a complete blind spot. Probably one of the least safe feeling places around. I can't imagine anyone locking their bike up to take the bus going east (away from University Circle) down Euclid. I suppose it is a safer place to put your bike if you get a flat... The poor fire hydrant stands guard.

To summarize:- In Cleveland it snows. Probably a lot. When you locate things on public walkways you may hinder more than just pedestrian traffic, you may completely impede the ability to keep the walkway passable.- Putting things in public way is generally a poor idea and should be seriously considered before undertaking. That being said try to coordinate whatever you HAVE to put in the public way so as to avoid a convoluted mess such as the above.

I wish this were an isolated incident but I assure you it is not. This happens quite a few times along the new Corridor's path along Euclid. Enough that it seems almost deliberate.

...but most of the time things stay just as sucky.

("things change" is the art/impedance to the plowing from the first picture)

Go ahead and email submissions to Stop Building Shit - Cleveland. As a rule, if you post a complaint or some stupid comment expect it to be remarked upon and posted on this webpage. If you can't stand the attention, then stop being a whore.

Stop Building Shit is a catalyst for the building and design profession to attempt to make a difference through:

Actual awareness of design and building

Some sort of community involvment

A little bit of education

The absolute absence of network interaction

...and, to be the previously unheard and silenced voices of the built environment